PATENT. A grant of some pi ivilege, property, or authority, made by the govern ment or sovereign of a country to one or more individuals. Phillips, Pat. 1.
As the term was originally used in Eng land, it signified certain written instruments emanating from the king and sealed With the great seal. These instruments conferred grants of lands, h'onors, or franchises ; they were called letters patent, from tieing de livered open, and by way of contradistinction from instrument§ like the French lettres de cachet, which went out sealed.
In the United States, the word patent is sometimes understood to mean the title-deed by which a•government, either state or fede ral, conveys its lands. But in its more usual acceptation it is tinderstood as referring to those instruments by which the United States secures to inventors for a limited time the' ekelusive use of their-own inventions. ' 2. The granting of exclusive privileges by means of letters patent was a power which for a lbng dine was greatly abused by the sovereigns of Eng land. The sole right of dealing in eertain com modities was in that manner oonferred upOn par ticular individuals, either as a matter of royal favor or as s means of replenishing the royal treasury. These exclusive privileges, which were, termed monopolies, became extremely odious, and, at act early day, met with the meat determined resistance. Ooe of the proiisiens of Magna Charts was intended to prevent the granting of mono polies of this character ; and subsequent pro hibitions and restrictions were enacted by parlia ment even under the most energetic and absolute, of their monarchs. See Hallam, Const. Hist., Harp. ed. 153, 205; 7 Lingard, Hiet. Eng. Dol man s ed. 247; 380 ; 9 id. 182.
Still, the urrregulated and despotio power of the crown proved, in tinny instances, superior to the law, until the reign of James I., when an ad was passed, in the twenty-first year of his reign, known as the Statute of Monopolies, which entirely pro hibited all grants of that nature, so far as the traffic in commodities already known was con cerned. But the king was permitted to secure by letters patent, to the inventor of any new manufac ture, the sole right to make and vend the same for a term not exceeding fourteen years. Since that time the power of the monarch has been so far con trolled by the law thst the prohibition contained in the Statute of Monopolies has been fully ob served, and under that statute has grown up the present system of British patent lsw, from which ours has to s great extent been derived.
3. The constitution, of the United States confers upon eongresa the poWer to pass lawa "to promote the progress of science and the aiieful arts, bjr aesuring for limited times to authors and initentors the exclusive right of their respeotive writings or discoveries." TJ. S. Const. art. 3. e. 6, 01. 8. This right can, accordingly, be oonferred only upon the authors and inventore themselves ; hut it rests in the sound discretion of congress to determine the length of time during which it shall continue. Con
gress at an early day availed itself of the power.
The first act passed was that which established the patent office, on the 10th of April, 1790. There were several supplements and modifications to thia law, namely, the sots passed February 7, 1793, June 7, 1794, April 17, 1800, July 3, 1832, July 13, 1832. These were all repealed, by an net passed July 4, 1836, and a new system was established, which, with some modifications of s secondary charaoter, has ever since ren3ained in force. The existing laws or. the subject are the sot of Jul. 4, 1836, already mentioned, the acts of March A, 1837, March 3, '1839, Angust 29, 1842, May 27, 1848, February 18,! 1'861, March 2,, 1861, and Maroh 3, 1863.
4. This new system differs Dom the old, in part,' by being more full and complete in. sll its details ;' bat the dietinguishing difference consists in the provision it contains, by which all applications for patents are subjected to a thorough and rigid ex amination,. with a view of preventing, as far as, possible, the granting of sny patent which will not, Afterwards be sustained by the courts as valid. this reaped it is believed to differ froni all laws of this kind that have ever existed; for, although in: other countries patents are sometimes refused, it ia• for other reasons than the mere fact that the title .of the patentee would be invalid : that. is a, matter which is left entirely at the.risk of the applicant. ! the present law does not, indeed, furnish any; ,guarantee of the validity of the title conferred. upon the patentee. the patent is, nevertheless, 11141;4 facie evidence of its own validity, 1 Stor. C.:C. 336; 3 id. 172 ; 1 Mas. 'C. C. 153; 14 Pot.: '458; , 2 Blatchf. C. C. 229; 1 MeAll. C. C. l71, as' 'well for a defendant in an nation as for s plain tiff. 15 How. 252. No provision is made by law for setting it aside directly, however invalid it may prove, except in the' special' case of interference. between two patents or an application and a pat ent. Bet, throughout its whole terra of existence, ,lithenever an. action is brought against any one for ;having infringed it he is permitted to show its, !original invalidity in his defenae. The exclusive :right' of the 'patentee did riot exist at comnion law; ,it. is crested by acts of congress; and no rights oan he acquired unless authorized bythe statute and in! the manner it prescribes. 10 How. 494 ; 19 4/.195; 3 N. Y. 9; . 8 Pet. 658. the power granted.by the, ;patent is &Meade IA' its character, and confined 'within the limits of the United States: consequently' it doeit uot extend to s foreign vessel lawfully enter ing one of our ports, where the patented improve., ment was placed upon her in a foreign port and •authorized by the laws of the country to which she belongs. 19 Mow. 183.